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The lineups have a lot of overlap but there are considerable differences as well:
Canon and Nikon have the most lenses by far, followed by Pentax, Sony, Olympus and Panasonic, in this order.
Canon has the largest range of focal-lengths, from 8 to 800mm with Nikon a close second, going from 10 to 800mm. This is followed by Pentax with from 10 to 560mm and ...

If you're looking at generalities — are there normal-range primes, are there wide zooms, are there telephoto zooms — everyone has it covered. But if you start looking at specifics, there are meaningful differences.
This comes out in three different ways:
Individual quirks of a certain brand's lineup
Availability of niche/special-purpose lenses
Lenses in ...

I picked a brand first.
I went and picked up several different cameras at a local store and compared them physically. Since each brand has technically similar lines, I decided that the ergonomics were a bigger factor than the technical aspects. For me, Canon bodies had a better feel. I have a friend that chose Nikon for the same reason.
I can see the ...

You are correct, a DSLR can have a fixed lens and there actually was, the Olympus E-10 for example.
My guess is that there is little advantage to a fixed in a DSLR and obviously flexibility is lost, not to mention the high-cost of a large sensor which makes one want to reuse it with various lenses. The DSLR's mirror and pentaprism/pentamirror force the ...

There are much more variation between lens lineups designed for mirrorless cameras than DSLRs. A major factor of each lineup is age.
Pentax uses the same K-mount for its K-01 as it does for its DSLRs. This gives it gets a complete lineup of lenses covering a focal-range of 10 to 560mm plus coverage from down to 4.5mm (fisheye) or 8mm (rectilinear) from ...

If you're interested in older, manual focus lenses, and not just lenses that are still in production (either because you already have several or, like me, just think they're fun and don't mind that they're typically not as optically sharp as modern lenses):
Canon's EOS mount only dates back to the mid-1980s; Nikon's mount and the M42 mount used by Pentax ...

This is sort of a tangential answer, but I picked the platform first, then specific equipment.
Lenses are a huge part of the platform, to be sure. The lenses offered by the camera manufacturers themselves represent the bulk of this portfolio, but you've also got third-party lenses from Sigma, Tamron, and others. Out of this portfolio, you might find ...

Micro Four Thirds has the biggest lineup. It has everything from super wide (7mm) to super long. Panasonic/Leica and Olympus have released some very good (but expensive) primes last year such as the Leica 25mm/1.4 or the Olympus 45mm/1.8. You'll even find the 2.8 zooms, although because of the 2x crop factor the images will look like those from a (good) 5.6 ...

Few things that makes a lens stand out are:
Aperture
Sharpness
Focal length
Build quality
Other features: (IS/VR, FTM, Distance Meter etc)
Aperture
Some lens have fixed aperture throughout the entire focal length and some have variable. Most lenses with fixed focal lengths are generally better and considered top notch. Some lenses have fast aperture (ie. ...

In addition to the variations in lens lineups, focal length ranges, and available features (for example image stabilization or weather sealing) that others have mentioned, there's a lot to be said for preferences of the look of the images that come from a lens. Lens designs can emphasize different elements of a photographic image that people might find ...

With quality 3rd party lenses from Sigma and Tokina (mainly, there are a few Tamrons that aren't too bad either), you can cover most of the focal length range covered by the branded lenses using 3rd party lenses on any body almost (the ranges these brands offer on minor camera brands like Pentax and Olympus may be only a subset of their total lineup though, ...

Having wanted to buy a DSLR since long, I chose a brand first. Nikon.
Went with the most affordable (to my pocket) camera D3100 which came with a basic 18-55 lens kit.
This was 2 years back. I did not know anything about pro-bodies or lenses at the time.
Gradually, as I started investing more time into photography, I realized that lens lineups not only ...

You need to read the rest of the line. It says
"The focus cannot be adjusted in MF mode while the camera is off."
The STM focus is electronically controlled it would appear, thus you can't adjust it without power being applied to the motors. When you turn the ring, it's just telling the camera to make adjustments with the motors. You don't have an ...

Canon and Nikon currently produce the most lenses are are often referred to as the big two. This is just as true for digital and film lenses. Of the two, Nikon's mount is older, dating to 1959 before the invention of autofocus.
While Pentax currently produces a small lineup of lenses, however they have maintained backwards compatibility for lenses for a ...